


Kin to the Skies

by Tallihensia



Category: Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Genre: Engineering, First Meetings, Gen, Pre-Movie, chapter 3 is story notes, i was going somewhere with this originally, leads to more, not quite finished, was supposed to be longer, what is there is complete enough so posting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-05
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 15:13:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6157762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the middle of a war, and Franky Cook wants better planes for her people.  A chance meeting leads to more than she ever thought it could.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> : Set previous to the movie (about 5 years) (which means sometime in the 1930s, Europe, alternate universe), during that original 'incident' they kept talking about in the movie. (Characters are going to sound a little bit ‘off’ compared to the movie because of the age difference.) 
> 
> Keep in mind this is an alternate universe (the movie made it one, not this fic). The events related here are based to some degree on World War II, however, it’s not really from our own reality. This is because the Sky Captain Universe is obviously an alternate one and I am following its reality, not ours (okay, and adding in my own…) The timeline in particular is a little skewed…
> 
> WARNING – MOVIE SPOILERS to a certain extent… my version of things, of course, but it does use happenings from the movie and since this is a prequel might give some things away (while I also add in things the movie never intended whatsoever… ;p ) And yes, I know the ‘incident’ in the movie might very well have been on a smaller scale or a different one altogether, but I decided to make it a part of this larger issue.
> 
> This was originally supposed to be chapter 1 of a longer series that would eventually end up hooking the three of them together. The first chapter is pretty darn complete on its own so I'm going ahead and posting. {eyes the second chapter...} Okay, I'll post what there was of chapter 2 as well, though it's not quite *as* complete as chapter 1. Maybe someday I'll do more (she says, wistfully). (Chapter three is story notes - they wouldn't fit in the AO3 notes. I thought about not including them at all, but... eh, why not.
> 
> Original posting at: <http://skycaptainslash.livejournal.com/8716.html>

# Adventures of Sky Captain in the Worlds of Infinity:

## Kin to the Skies

“It’s no good,” the dark-haired woman said as she frowned at the plane.

“Captain, we *can* do those designs you want—”

“Only by making a brand new plane,” the Air Captain interrupted the engineer and turned away. “Dr. Jones, we’re in the middle of a WAR in case you hadn’t noticed. We don’t have a year for new planes to be commissioned and deployed.”

“Eight months, Captain, for the first prototype, and trust me, it will be a real spitfire—”

“One plane will not do my squad any good, Dr. Jones. I need a squadron, not a super-plane I can show off in and get my people killed around me.” Franky sighed. She knew what she needed, but none of her damn engineers seemed to. She glanced around and caught Henry’s eye. Her top mechanic shrugged in an ‘I told you so’ manner. The engineer she’d brought into the hangar to see her planes kept talking with eager earnestness about the new wonderful planes he would design for her. Franky finally couldn’t stand it anymore and shooed him out as politely as she could under the circumstances. She and the rest of the RAF would get new planes in a year, with a more powerful engines and a stream-lined design. One of the British dependent nations or their allies would get their old ones and so on down the line. And in the meantime, half her people would die because of bad designing.

Franky grimaced. No, to be fair, it wasn’t bad designing, it was just that as they fought, they knew more about what they could do… and what they couldn’t. And what the enemy could… and what the enemy knew about what they couldn’t. What she needed was alterations to her planes that could be done now, when they were needed. Not new planes in a year.

“Sorry about that, Cap’n.” Henry came up and shook his head. “I knew how it was going to be, but Dr. Jones really is the best of ‘em down there in the think tank …”

“I know, Henry. It’s not your fault. The man is a genius, and those planes he’ll give us in a year will be wonderful.” Franky turned back to her current plane and stroked its the silver skin.

“But as you said, we need them now.” Henry sighed. “I’ve tried, Cap’n, but I just can’t figure out how to improve the planes any more. I’ll keep working on it, but…”

“You’ve already done a tremendous job, Henry. The planes fly longer and faster now, they can cut maneuvers on a dime, they—”

“They’re still not good enough to keep our people from getting killed.”

Franky was silent. It was, after all, her main drive right now. Her people were good. She may have just been promoted to Captain, but she knew her people. They were all top pilots and fighters, and could think and fly at the same time – a skill that was needed in the air, but was less common than one might think in war times. But when you were up in the air, and saw your enemy diving at you, guns blazing, and knew exactly what you had to do to get away and to return fire but your plane just couldn’t make the maneuver… Part of being a top pilot was knowing your planes and knowing their limitations and not getting into situations your skills and plane couldn’t get you out of. Yet even that wasn’t enough sometimes. They all accepted death at some point – it was part of being a warrior. And Franky would do her darn best to try and make sure it wasn’t their equipment that killed them.

“Are there any other engineers we can ask?”

Henry shrugged. “You know them as well as I do, Captain. Dr. Jones…” He grinned, “I bet we get the prototype in four months and the planes in seven.”

Franky grinned as well; it was a bet she wouldn’t take because Henry was probably right. She lost the grin as she kept thinking. “It will have to do. I would hope the war would be done by then, but something tells me this is going to be a long one.” She stroked the cool metal of her plane and thought about the lives that would be lost during the war. “It’s a pity that all the best engineers get grabbed up young by British Intelligence and go into the think tanks. They have no real world experience. And the other countries, they do the same with their geniuses.”

“Except for the Americans, who just let their people loose to create havoc everywhere.”

Franky laughed. “Yes, it’s a pity they haven’t joined the war. We might have our rivalries, but they are a fierce young people and their valued ‘independence’ would do us all well.” Turning from her own plane, she looked out over the hangar filled with more of the same. They were the best planes, and even better now for Henry and his people’s tinkering. They would do. Her people were the best pilots, teamed with the best planes, and—

“Well, the independents have joined, even if the country hasn’t yet.” Henry’s tone indicated he just wasn’t so sure about people who would do such things on their own, without being a part of their own nation, even if they were helping.

Slowly, Frankly turned to look at Henry, her eyes starting to sparkle with new ideas. “The Green Blitzer, Sky Captain, Domination George…”

“Oh, hey, here, Captain, you aren’t thinking of going to one of *them* now are you?” Henry sounded alarmed, even as he got a thoughtful look in his own eyes.

Casting a glance towards where Dr. Jones had left, Franky shrugged, “It’s worth a try.”

Just then, the hangar alarm sounded and the loudspeaker crackled, “Airborne 12 reports enemy approachments. Captain Cook, deploy your squadron to assist.” Pilots appeared from every doorway and scrambled towards their planes as mechanics scattered to make final adjustments.

“Hold that thought,” Franky said wryly, “It’s time to save the world again.” She unclipped her hat from her belt and tugged it on, adjusting the goggles above but not yet putting them on. “Or at least a part of it.”

“Yes, Captain,” Henry agreed. He glanced at her plane, but both he and she knew it was in perfect launch condition.

Franky climbed gracefully up her plane and into the cockpit. Before settling, she leaned out and called once more to her mechanic, “Find out which of those independents has the best planes, and who their mechanics and engineers are, and then find out where they eat lunch regularly.”

“You don’t want to talk to the pilots?”

“Now why would I want to do that?” Franky shrugged, “They’re not the ones who build their planes.” She grinned and waved at Henry, then settled herself in and closed the canopy. Then she and her squad launched into the skies.

 

… … …

 

Noisy, boisterous, friendly. The café was filled to bursting with a lunch crowd that mixed local citizens and military from most of the allied groups. But not many officers. With a pang of self-consciousness, Franky realized how much she stood out in her uniform with the new shiny captain’s bars. Oh well… She scanned the café, looking for her target. There he was. Looking much like his picture, and, thank goodness, by himself at a table. She approached the table and hovered for a moment, “Excuse me, do I have the pleasure of addressing Dr. Dearborn?”

The engineer looked up at her. Franky immediately took back the thought of him looking like his picture. Yes, superficially, all the parts were in the right places and the nose and the hair… but the eyes… and the expression… Dexter Dearborn was nothing like his picture. In person, there was a vibrancy and an aliveness to him that just never made it into the two-dimensional rendering.

“Well, I’m definitely Dex Dearborn, but if you’re looking for a Doctor, I’m afraid you won’t find one here.” His grin was infectious and engaging. “I never even made it through college, let alone a doctorate!”

Frankly blinked. He was a genius… she could immediately see intelligence running through his every fiber, as she was only a mild distraction in the midst of his thousand and one ideas. This was the part that didn’t show in the pictures, but was very much a part of him. “Sorry,” she responded with her own smile, relaxing into a friendliness she wouldn’t have normally offered to most strangers – even ones she wanted something from. “That was a bad assumption on my part, but really, there’s obviously no need for it.” She laughed, “I was just complaining to my mechanic that all the intelligent people were hemmed in by the regularization of institution – and then I place you in the same category without thinking.” Pausing, she mentally compared Mr. Dearborn to Dr. Jones… As good as Dr. Jones was… “I’m glad you’re not in that category,” she added seriously.

The engineer cocked his head to one side, reading her while she was talking, while never losing his friendly grin. He gestured at the seat across from him, “Please sit down, Captain.”

Franky was impressed again – not many engineers she knew took the trouble to learn the different allied military rankings and could tell what they were by looking. She sat, taking off her hat, and then extending her hand. “I’m Franky Cook.”

“Dex,” he responded, clasping her hand firmly but without any of the pressure power games some men liked to play. He held her hand neither too long nor too short, letting go with the right timing for a social contact. “But then,” he laughed, “you already knew that.” He settled back in his seat, brown eyes still studying her without making her feel like a specimen or a display on the market. “How can I help you, Captain?”

“You get right to the point, don’t you?” Franky could feel her eyebrows going up.

The brown eyes twinkled again, and the engineer handed her a menu from the table, “I’m sorry, what would you like to have for lunch? They make a great grilled cheese sandwich here.”

Franky admitted defeat with another smile. She was actually enjoying this meeting, much moreso than she’d thought. There was still a knot in her stomach, though, about the possibility of another failure. She accepted the menu without looking at it. “What I need, Mr. Dearborn—”

“Dex,” he interrupted. “It’s just Dex.”

Now most men who wanted to get on a first-name basis with her in the first few minutes of conversation usually wanted one thing in particular… Franky took her own moment to study the engineer. She’d been impressed with him right from the start, and that didn’t happen often. As for what he wanted from her… No. She knew men, and she knew when their minds were on things other than the job. This Dex Dearborn, while he wasn’t unaware of her as a woman, wasn’t after her in that regard. He was simply being who he was, and was offering his name to her in easy camaraderie. Which was also sudden, but perhaps he also felt… no, she couldn’t speculate on why. Just that it was done in friendship without wanting something out of it. Franky felt a little guilty that she’d come to him wanting something from the start, but that was the way of it.

“I’ll do that… if you call me Franky.”

There was another moment of silence. Franky got the impression that this man was used to remaining on a level where he invited people in with his openness, but then didn’t reach back out. That it was okay for him to be the subordinate, but he wasn’t used to others lowering themselves back down as well. To place oneself below on a social level was to disarm the ranks above. One encountered no arguments or fighting, if one managed to stay below the radar. It was a technique that Franky had used herself in the past, but wouldn’t now… not when she was representing her squadron – she couldn’t afford the other military to think of them like that. And for some reason, she didn’t feel like letting this man do it to her.

“Franky.” Dex nodded simply, accepting the equivalent ranks of first names.

This interview was going nothing like she’d expected. Franky didn’t know what she would get out of it for her men, but already she knew she’d gotten a friend. “Dex, what I need…” she hesitated another moment... it wasn’t her style to be so blunt with strangers. But then, he wasn’t really a stranger… not anymore. “I need a way to improve our planes so my people can fly to their best abilities and be safer, not falling prey to the hazards of equipment, but able to concentrate on the ones shooting back.”

Dex nodded, not looking very surprised. “I’ve been following the alterations that Henry Willits has been making. You’ve got a very good man there. He’s done a great job so far.”

Sitting back in surprise, Franky stared.

Just then, Dex’s plate of grilled cheese and fries arrived with a side glass of… it looked like milk. The waitress looked to Franky for her order… Giving in to the moment, Franky went for the cheeseburger and a chocolate milkshake.

Dex took out the gum he’d been chewing and folded it in a piece of the paper mat. “I would have thought vanilla.”

Franky laughed, “Normally it would be. I felt like indulging.”

Dex nodded and took a bite of the grilled cheese. After he’d swallowed, he said, “I’m sorry if I startled you.”

Somehow, Franky rather doubted that the man was really sorry – there was a look about him that spoke of an underlayer of mischievousness.

“I just don’t think you’ve got a lot of time and I wanted to let you know I’m up on the situation. I do follow what happens mechanically around the area, even if I don’t get out a lot myself.”

Something about the way that Dex said they didn’t have a lot of time sent a chill down her back. “Dex, I don’t have anything to offer… we’re part of the British Air Force and I shouldn’t even be going outside our own structure…”

“But they couldn’t help you.” Dex nodded calmly, “Yes, I know.” He waved a hand, not the one with the sandwich in it. “It’s okay. Tell me what your most pressing problems are with the planes.”

“Mostly it’s maneuverability and reaction times.” Franky went into detail with the specifics of what their planes were doing. Or weren’t doing, as was often the case.

Finishing the last of his sandwich, Dex pushed his plate off to the side and flipped the placemat over, taking a pencil from his shirt pocket. “As your engineers have mentioned, some of that is purely structural and can’t be changed without a full redesign. It’s also a trade off – maneuverability for weapons and a steadier frame. However, Henry’s definitely been on the right track for alterations that can be done now with the planes you’ve got. Without losing your firepower in the process.” He quickly sketched out a perfect replica of their squadron’s planes, and then started making notes and annotations around it, with arrows and more detailed diagrams of parts.

Franky was so absorbed in watching him sketch, that she almost failed to notice her cheeseburger when it came.

“May I…?” Dex reached out, his hand hovering by her plate. It took Franky a moment to realize what he wanted, than she grinned and lifted her plate, allowing him to grab her paper mat. He filled that with diagrams as well.

When he’d finished drawing, Franky had finished her sandwich and was sipping her milkshake, watching him with a wonder approaching awe. He didn’t even know her… Well, he obviously knew *something* from what he’d said. But to just give her designs like that, out of the blue…

“Here,” Dex handed over the two mats, which Franky handled with reverence, knowing their full worth. “This should be enough to get Henry started. Let him have a look at those, and come back to me if you have any questions. I’ll think some more on it and will get back with what else we can do.”

“Thank you.” The words seemed… inadequate. Franky was tempted to take the plans and run, to not look too closely at this miracle gift in case it should somehow disappear. But… “Why?”

Dex shrugged, “You asked.”

Franky raised an eyebrow, “I’m sure a lot of people ask.”

“Yes, but you cared.”

Franky opened her mouth, than closed it again, not wanting to press. But she didn’t leave the table either.

Returning to his milk, which he’d let sit while he was drawing, Dex was silent for awhile. Eventually, he smiled, “You asked… because you wanted something to help your people. You didn’t ask because you wanted to save yourself, or to get the better toys, or to make a profit, or to show up any rival of yours – you just wanted something that would help.”

It was true, but how he could tell… “So all anybody has to do to get your help is to ask and say it’s for somebody else?”

Dex laughed. “Hardly.” He shook his head, and was silent a bit longer. On that mobile, communicative face of his, Franky had so far seen intelligence, humor, seriousness, and concentration. Now she saw a new expression… pain. It was just a glimmer, and well hidden, but it was there, under all the rest. Slowly, he spoke again, as if it was being dragged out of him, “You can tell, you know. When they come and ask, different ones, over and over again… it doesn’t take a genius to eventually learn which ones are real.” He gave a wobbly smile that still had some humor in it, “For a genius, I didn’t learn quick. But I did eventually learn.”

It struck a chord in Franky. Without pausing to examine what she was saying, she commiserated, “Like when the bastards compliment you on your flying skills but just want you in their bed. Yes… you do learn, eventually.”

Dex stared wide-eyed at Franky and she could feel his switch from regarding her as a person to suddenly checking her out as a woman… and then she realized what she’d said and blushed furiously. She could feel the heat on her cheeks, something she hadn’t done since she was a teenager and had learned to control her emotions around guys. “Oh bloody… I shouldn’t have said that…”

His shoulders shaking, Dex clamped his mouth tightly shut, though his eyes glinted merrily. After a moment, he’d regained enough control to say, “The situations could definitely be compared...” His humor slipped, “You’ve had that happen.”

Franky straightened her shoulders from the hunched position they’d gone into, and resumed her military bearing. She hadn’t slipped like that for years. And since she’d already gone that far… “Yes.”

The two of them were both silent, looking at each other, thinking about themselves, than putting each on the other side… and finding they weren’t all that different. The memories were there in their eyes, of the times before the lesson was learnt, of the mistakes that had been made along the way… and of the resolution that no one would ever again take advantage of them for being simply who they were.

The moment lingered on and became painful for its intimacy. Franky looked away first, then stood up from the table. “Dex, I can’t thank you enough…”

Dex stood up as well, “It’s okay, really.”

They walked together to the register, and Franky pulled out money for her half as Dex was pulling out money enough to cover both of them. They matched stares for a moment, than Dex gave a half-grin and let her pay for her own cheeseburger.

“I hope this isn’t going to get you in trouble with the Sky Captain…”

Dex blinked, “Joe? Why would… oh.” He laughed as they walked out into the sunshine of the streets. “Joe isn’t my boss.”

It was Franky’s turn to blink, and Dex explained.

“We’re partners. I make planes and he flies them, but he didn’t ‘hire’ me and I don’t actually work for him.” Dex grinned, “He might be a little miffed when he finds out some of the stuff I’m giving you designs for, but he’ll get over it.”

The look on Dex’s face as he talked about his partner… Franky knew that he didn’t exaggerate – whoever the Sky Captain was, he was a friend foremost, and was equally a friend back to Dex. She saw there a loyalty and an attachment that spoke of years together.

Briefly, Franky envied that friendship. But she had chosen the route of many, rather than a few, and the bond she had with her squadron couldn’t easily be broken either. Even if she had only been recently promoted to command, they all knew each other, and their lives were in each others’ hands. The envy was only false pangs, and what she had was just as real.

She and Dex walked to the end of the street together, and then they parted, he back to his Sky Captain, and she back to her squadron.


	2. Chapter 2

 

Franky only slept the bare minimum that night. Henry had been in awe over the plans and had wanted to get on them right away… But first they drew up a rotational schedule for the pilots and planes for the alterations. They’d done some planning before with Henry’s alterations, but the ones that Dex was pointing out… the smaller stuff could be done by the army of mechanics quickly, but they still had to know which planes would be out and who was available to fly. Then there were the changes that involved digging into the guts of the planes and ripping them out… They wanted the changes---they most definitely wanted the changes---but they had to plan for them as well. It was a fine edge, wanting your best pilots to have the first of the altered planes and also wanting them to be available to fly. They could rotate planes, of course, and for the very top pilots, they would, but Franky didn’t like to do that a lot – it was bad for overall moral, and pilots were possessive about their planes. So there was political and ego structuring to work into the plans as well as the purely practical…  

They had announced the schedule early in the morning, and Henry and his team started work. As much as she wanted, Franky couldn’t be there initially because she was in RAF meetings coordinating attack and defense plans; the raid the other day had changed some borders. She came back in the afternoon, full of strategy ideas and concern. The overall top plans were done by generals with much more experience and knowledge than herself… but it did seem like her people were put most often in the most dangerous situations. They weren’t being ordered out just yet, but there were all those contingency plans with their division being the ones to cover retreats or retrenchings… Well, they were up to it – her people were the best of the RAF pilots. And this would win them more glory. She just hoped it wasn’t with too many lives…

Planes were in pieces throughout the hanger. The ones not yet altered had been moved off to the sides, in lines ready to launch should they be called out, and also ready to be rotated into the mechanical triage center when it came their turn. Franky cast an eye over the planes, knowing just which plane was which pilot’s, and noticed that two planes had already made it through the first set of changes and… was that her plane? It was. Right there in the middle of the hanger, with her guts hanging out, intestines dribbling over the floor…   and was that a bit of the wing? Her lips set in a grim line, Franky changed her course and marched up to her plane.

“Henry! What are you—” She came to a halt as the man half inside the engine came out. “Dex…?” She glanced around the hanger and finally spotted Henry – on the exact opposite side, as far away as he could be.

“I’m sorry, Captain Cook, I know your plane was scheduled on the refit list for two days from now, but—” Dex’s eyes were twinkling with schoolboy delight, even as his voice was a carefully schooled meek apology.

Franky held up her hand to stop his apology, shaking her head at herself. She knew *exactly* what had happened now, and why Henry was on the other side… both literally and figuratively. “I thought we’d agreed on ‘Franky’.”

It was Dex’s turn to blink, and Franky felt a small burst of satisfaction for doing the unexpected – she didn’t think it would be often she’d catch Dex surprised.

“Captain, with all due respect—”

“And therein lies the problem,” Franky interrupted him again. “I didn’t offer my name as something to be put on or off depending on what bloody room we’re in or whether there are ladies present.” She softened the tone, “It’s just ‘Franky’, Dex, no matter where we are.”

Dex glanced around the hanger, concern and a touch of panic on his face. There wasn’t anybody near enough to overhear them, though Henry was approaching, a broad grin on his face. Her offer had obviously disconcerted him again. For a moment, Franky thought about relenting, but then decided against it. If she let him step back now, she didn’t think she would ever get to know who he really was – it would always be just the mask that he chose to wear, whichever one that was at the time.

“The men are going to wonder,” Dex adroitly sidestepped the question of names by not using one.

“Let them,” Franky replied shortly. They would wonder no matter what Dex did or didn’t say, and she hadn’t gotten this far by appearing to care about rumors.

There was another pause while Dex stared at her some more. Then he gave her a sweet, shy smile that was different then the humorous grins she’d seen from him before. Years seemed to drop from him, and as young as he already appeared, Franky glimpsed an even younger boy within him. A core of innocence and vulnerability that his world-wide exterior hadn’t extinguished. Her heart lurched, melting right into a little puddle onto the floor and spread out through the wires and disassembled parts of her soul.

 _What an extraordinary young man._ Franky looked down at those bits and pieces spread out on the floor, feeling very much in empathy with her plane. “So…”she cleared her throat, “What *are* you doing to my plane?”

Dex’s shy smile slipped into his grin without masking the softness he’d just shown. “It’s mostly the same changes I’d recommended for your other planes, but I wanted to do this job myself.”

A turn of her head showed Henry finally approaching them. Since there hadn’t been fireworks yet, apparently he thought it was safe. Franky could wait until he got there…

“I talked to Henry this morning,” Dex had followed her gaze, “and after we worked out some more of the details… It’s not his fault, Franky, really.”

“You’re not under my command; he is.” She changed the subject back, “My plane, Dex. What are you doing to my plane?”

Dex stifled a chuckle. “You sound just like Joe. Alright.” He leaned into the interior of her plane and pointed out the things he was making changes to. Henry joined them as they were moving to the wing parts. Franky waited until Dex finished the explanation he was on before she swung to face the other man.

“The schedule, Henry. My plane wasn’t scheduled yet.”

The two men exchanged looks. Henry appearing rather guilty and defiant, and Dex unrepentant and stubborn. As Franky had rather expected, Dex verbally stepped in, not letting Henry speak. “My fault, I insisted.”

Franky raised an eyebrow at him but allowed the intervention.

“I wanted to come help, but Henry has everything well in hand, so I thought I’d work on yours.”

As if Franky didn’t know that had been his intention all along.

Dex eyed her for a moment to see how his story was going down. “We haven’t changed the schedule. With me working too, we’ve just added your plane in sooner.”

Franky sighed, “The schedule wasn’t just about the planes, it was also about the pilots and when we can fly ---”

“Exactly,” Dex interrupted. “Come on, Franky, you can’t think that a single person in your squad would possibly resent their Captain and best pilot having one of the first altered planes.”

Henry joined the offense. “Not you, Cap’n. Now if you were one like Captain Barrie, everybody would raise Holy Hell. But, begging your pardon, Captain, you’re *not* that sorry asshole. The squad respects you.”

It was a struggle to keep her face straight. But Franky wasn’t about to ruin this play with ill-timed laughter.

“We would have asked you first,” Dex put in, “But you were in that meeting and I’m only here for today.”

Diverted from her thoughts, Franky looked at her dismantled plane in dismay.

Dex again followed her gaze. “Don’t worry, I’ll have it all put together again before I leave, and if I get called out, Henry can do it.”

The mechanic nodded, “Dex went over everything this morning. And I said yes for your plane ‘cause I’d rather have him working on it than anybody else; even me.”

They had rather neatly spiked her guns with inarguable arguments. Franky couldn’t really come down on Henry for going outside the command chain when she herself had, and the two of them had obviously put a lot of thought into it. Though, speaking of the chain of command, it did rather beg to have the question asked… “Did you consult with Lieutenant Lister?”

Henry coughed, looking away. Dex glanced at him in surprise and then made a small ‘oh’ sound of realization. It reinforced her surmise that Dex was more than just an engineer in his group. He hadn’t even thought of going through any command procedures other than her mechanic.

She waved aside the stammered explanation of why Henry didn’t go to the Lieutenant. She already knew; she’d just wanted to ask the question.

“You said you might be pulled away, Dex?” She made a question out of what could have been a statement. If Dex had been one of the military, she would have left it flat and made them think for what she wanted. With Dex, though, she didn’t need to be as commanding.

With a shrug, Dex both affirmed and discarded the statement. Just before she inquired further, he expanded. “Joe’s off on a mission that’s under radio silence. I don’t expect to hear from him until,” he glanced at his watch, “another four hours or so. And even then, he probably won’t need me for the rest of the day.”

Both Henry and Franky looked at him in surprise. “Radio silence?” Henry asked, “I thought you guys were helping the Russians today.”

Dex shrugged, looking briefly around them to make sure nobody else was in earshot. “That’s Miguel and the gang on that gig. Joe’s off doing something else.”

“The Sky Captain doesn’t work the jobs he’s hired for?” Franky asked curiously. Then wished she hadn’t phrased it quite like that but too late to call it back.

The worldly cynical grin appeared on Dex’s face again, eclipsing any hint of the softness underneath. “We got five requests for help yesterday. One we had to refuse outright, two we recommended to Crimson Hornet and Domination George. We took the last two, but they needed different types of support. So Miguel and the mercs are off playing with the Russians, and Joe’s on his own.” The grin slipped into wry. “We do that a lot.”

That simple explanation made the Sky Captain and his mercenaries real people. Franky had been hearing about them even before this war, and it had always been as larger than life, a single entity, a force of nature in plural, not actual people. Even meeting and talking to Dex hadn’t shaken that image. But their decisions on who would get their nod, and then splitting to carry out missions… Dex’s regular use of ‘Joe’ for the Sky Captain’s name for the first time brought to mind a man rather than a hero.

When she pulled her attention back, Dex was answering a question Henry had asked. “Tristin and Reggie monitor Miguel and the team, mostly. I usually only am needed at Base when Joe’s around.” He wrinkled his nose, “Joe’s the only one who breaks his plane mid-air and then asks me to fix it while he’s still flying.”

While Dex’s voice was full of resigned amusement, it was also matter-of-fact that it happened all the time, and Henry and Franky were both held silent with the image.

“Three jobs.”

“What?” Dex cocked his head curiously at her.

“Yesterday, you got six requests, and you’re working on three of them. Mine included.” Franky was now very sure that “Dex” and “Sky Captain” were part of the same thing. Just as the mercenaries were and “Joe” was as well. They couldn’t be separated out so individually, and she *had* asked for Dex’s help.

Dex laughed quietly. “Okay, three.” The cynicism was gone again, replaced with a bit of delighted wonder as he grinned at her.


	3. Chapter 3

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# Original Story Notes

Almost longer than the darn story. That's what research for fics does to me. Posting in a separate chapter because AO3 has a limit on note size. I'm surprised I haven't run into that before. ;p  
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Okay, this *all* came about from one simple exchange in the movie… ;-) {skip this paragraph if you don’t want movie spoilers right now}. Franky had ordered her ship to turn away from the combat zone, Joe was protesting. Franky states unequivocally, “I won’t risk my men for one of your schemes.” Joe, serious, “Dex is down there.” Franky stares at him for a moment then whips around to her command post, “Rescind that order!!” It was a delightful scene in the movie. ^___^ Really. :) Basically, Tainry and I were rolling on the floor after that exchange – boy, those really *must* be some toys that Dex makes for them! You see, the whole movie really IS about Dex… ;p ;-) {coughs} Okay, okay, but there was enough, uh, ‘meat’ in there for me to grab onto for the story as well. Particularly with Dex also designing for Franky’s group, and she and Joe had slept together too… I *could* have made just Joe bi-sexual and Dex a dang good friend but never actually sleeping with Franky… and at one point the story almost went that way… but it really wasn’t as much fun. Might have been more realistic, but just not as much fun. ^__^ And the point of writing this was really for the fun. ;-)

Re characterizations… It’s five years before the movie. They’re going to be a bit different, particularly Franky since I’ve just had her gain her first real command. She’s not nearly as self-assured as she was in the movie, though that’s a bulk of her character and you can see it in her already (well, hopefully you can ^^ ). Dex and Joe are a bit more similar to their movie selves because in my timeline versions, I had them hook up and go independent five years before this, so they’re a bit more settled.

In other story notes… Gads, I swore I’d never be one of those WWI or II buffs ;p Amazing what a little bit of relevant interest will do for making me get off my duff and research. {rolls eyes at self} As I mentioned above, this isn’t exactly WWII. For one thing, the Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow movie took place in the late 1930s, which was before WWII, and this story is set in their past, which means the early 1930s. And their world is rather obviously a different universe than our own. The little bit we know about their ‘past incident’ is that it involved people from multiple countries, took place outside America in a place called Nanjing, had a top reporter covering it, and it lasted a long time (Joe said he’d been involved with Franky for three of the months that he was with Polly… which implies there was at least a few more months on there). It seemed rather logical to me that rather than being something totally different, that what had brought them all together and for so long a time period was similar to the world wars (with Nanjing just being a smaller incident in the whole, where he and Polly hooked up). Which, since it was 1930, left me with the interesting question of *which* World War, since that was smack in the middle between them. The first world war was in 1918 and was the main impetus for development and advancement of aircraft – aircraft for the Great War were just starting their greatness. The planes (and uniforms) in Sky Captain atWoT look much closer to those of World War II. So, I’m using the research from WWII to put their setting in. The harder part is me trying to remember it really wasn’t WWII. ;p

But, since I’ve actually done this research (all in order to get the three in bed together – I’m horrible…), I thought you might want to know some of the more interesting bits I pulled from it:

\- At the very beginning, when Franky has the engineer over to look at the planes… that always was a part of this story, but when doing the research, I did sneak in one little reference… The British airplane, the Spitfire, was developed during the war for the RAF (Royal Air Force) of a superior design, all metal, sleek body, and thin wings. The Spitfire is credited with deciding the outcome of the Battle of Britain and the British public loved this plane and their pilots. Since I wanted to make it clear that the engineer that Franky was talking to wasn’t incompetent, I thought it was a nice twist to make her request the genesis of the Spitfire.

\- For a little while in the research, I tinkered with the idea of making Franky Canadian instead of British. In both the World Wars, Britain drew heavily upon Canada for people and supplies, as Commonwealth allies. In WWII, Canada developed an intense air force, getting an agreement from Britain that most of their resources and people would be directed towards air training over other aspects of war support. The sheer magnitude of Canadian air resources and the fact that they had men and women both involved impressed me and made me want to use Canada for Franky… but WWII also was where Canada insisted on the separate designation of the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force), and I thought it was pretty obvious in the movie that Franky was part of the British Air Force. Ah well. ;-) But it was still cool to read about.

\- That little bit about American not joining in but the independents had… That *was* directed at the “superheros” of the comic eras such as Sky Captain and the rest, but interestingly enough, when I was poking through the research, I found out that Americans *had* joined the war before America did! A group of U.S. pilots had volunteered with the British Air Force, with fighter pilots mostly flying in the Eagle Squadron. When the U.S. joined the war, those pilots went back into the US Army Air Force, but they were allowed to keep wearing their RAF wings in addition to the US wings in honor of their service there. They even made a movie about it in 1941, “A Yank in the RAF” starring Tyrone Powers and Betty Garble, which was a romantic comedy but was designed to bring awareness to the American public about what was happening overseas. I decided not to introduce this into the story because it would be a confounding factor in my plan to get the three together… but it was still interesting! :)


End file.
